Civil Air Patrol cadets from across America gather in Dayton, Ohio, starting today for the 2012 National Cadet Competition, a prestigious CAP inspection and drill event that originated in 1947.
Scheduled for June 20-24 at Wright State University in Dayton, the competition will be held in front of special guests including senior Air Force personnel, elected representatives and corporate America.
“Civil Air Patrol’s best color guards and drill teams are front and center for the National Cadet Competition,” said CAP National Commander Maj. Gen. Chuck Carr. “This is a 65-year tradition, which has inspired generations of cadets to strive for excellence. It showcases CAP’s top cadets, who work year-round to get here. We look forward to this year’s competition.”
The 152 cadets competing in this year’s National Cadet Competition earned the right to attend by winning local, state and regional competitions. Each of CAP’s eight regions will be represented by a four-person color guard and a 12-person drill team.
Cadets will demonstrate their skills in events that involve precision and teamwork, including innovative and standard drill movements, indoor and outdoor posting of the American flag and creativity and knowledge of aerospace-related topics, including a written exam and panel quiz, as well as physical fitness challenges involving volleyball and a mile run.
Inspections and drill competition will be judged by a team including senior CAP officers and members of the Air Force Honor Guard; the volleyball competition will be judged according to USA Volleyball Domestic Indoor Competition rules by volleyball professionals.
Top cadets in several categories will also be honored, including top written score and fastest mile-run time.
The National Cadet Competition is one of more than 30 National Cadet Special Activities being sponsored by CAP across the nation this summer. These activities allow young men and women ages 12 to 20 to hone their skills in a variety of areas, including search and rescue, flight and emergency services, science, leadership fundamentals, citizenship and military courtesies, and to explore aerospace technology and aviation careers. In 2011, more than 1,000 youth participated in CAP-sponsored summer activities.
Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with more than 61,000 members nationwide, operating a fleet of 550 aircraft. CAP, in its Air Force auxiliary role, performs 90% of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and was credited by the AFRCC with saving 54 lives in fiscal year 2011. Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to nearly 27,000 young people currently participating in the CAP cadet programs. CAP received the World Peace Prize in 2011 and has been performing missions for America for 70 years.
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